"If they're going to sag, just shoot them," Bryant added. "When
you're open, there's no sense in trying to force the ball to the
hole if guys are in the way. Shoot it, we'll try to rebound
it."

Milwaukee coach George Karl did not regret his decision to use a
zone against the Lakers.

"We did a pretty decent job on Shaq, but we didn't finish the
job on Kobe," he said. "Kobe was out of control in the second
half, scoring on a lot of pick-and-rolls. I have no idea why we
didn't cover him. The zone was meant to wall Kobe in and give
Shaq a crowd. We were blessed early because they kept missing
their outside shots. Kobe's penetration -- and that's their
style so we couldn't do anything -- we couldn't control him,
couldn't control the boards, and everyone started make their
threes in the second half."

Sam Cassell scored 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting for Milwaukee,
which leads the Eastern Conference but had a five-game winning
streak stopped and suffered its first loss since November 10
against Minnesota.

"It is one game and we cannot look at it like the world is
falling down on us because we lost the game today," Cassell
said. "The good thing about NBA basketball is tomorrow. We
have a game tomorrow, so we have to forget about this game and
do some things better. I think that if we rebound the ball
better that we are difficult team to beat."

The other members of Milwaukee's "Big Three," Ray Allen and
Glenn Robinson, were held to 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Allen shot 6-for-14 and had seven assists and seven rebounds,
but Robinson made just 5-of-17 shots and grabbed three rebounds.

The Bucks certainly got Los Angeles' attention last season, when
they swept the Lakers for the first time since the 1990-91
campaign. Their win at the Staples Center on December 12 ended
a nine-game losing streak in Los Angeles.

Starting a four-game western swing, Milwaukee used a 16-1 run to
turn a four-point deficit into a 28-17 lead with 1:56 left in
the first quarter. Robinson snapped a 17-17 tie with a jumper
with 4:01 left that began a run of 11 straight points.

The Bucks shot 57 percent (12-for-21) from the field while Los
Angeles connected at 39 percent (9-for-23), missing all five of
its 3-pointers. The Lakers missed nine of their last 10 shots
in the period.

"They got us on our heels in the first half and we moved the
ball poorly," Jackson said. "Even the guys who were catching
the ball wide-open, getting poor passes, shot the ball poorly on
top of it when they got bad passes. But we made a rally at the
end of the half to give us some light to come in and make some
adjustments in the second half, got the rhythm back in our
game."

Milwaukee used a 10-2 spurt early in the second quarter and
opened a 38-23 advantage on Rafer Alston's 3-pointer with 7:24
remaining.

However, Los Angeles outscored the Bucks, 57-36, in the second
half and held them to 39 percent shooting (15-for-39), including
1-of-10 from long range.

"We came out playing good basketball, but that is why the game
is four quarters," Allen said. "We came out in the second half
and started out pretty well, but they killed us with offensive
rebounds. They killed us and we just made small, stupid
mistakes."

The Lakers went on a 12-2 run over 2:57 of the third quarter and
took a 70-67 on a dunk by Robert Horry. After Tim Thomas nailed
a 3-pointer for Milwaukee and the teams traded free throws,
Bryant hit a 3-pointer to give Los Angeles a 74-71 heading into
the final period.

Bryant scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers
blew open the game with an early 10-0 run. Horry's 3-pointer
put Los Angeles ahead, 84-73, with 9:24 left and the Bucks
faded.

"It was pretty easy for us to read the defense once we became
accustomed to what style they were playing," said Bryant, who
scored at least 30 points for the fourth time this season. "At
first, it was a little frustrating to read the defense, but then
we got used to it and made some adjustments. We started finding
our shooters. We didn't make a lot of threes, but we made some
big ones."

Horry finished with 13 points, Samaki Walker grabbed a
season-high 11 rebounds and Devean George tied a career best
with nine boards as Los Angeles held a 57-36 edge on the glass
and made 20-of-31 free throws.

Thomas had 17 points off the bench and Anthony Mason pulled down
11 rebounds for the Bucks, who were outscored, 42-20, in the
paint and yielded 20 points off 12 turnovers.